All the Colours
by HecateA
Summary: Remus Lupin does not often impulse-buy things, but when he does he nearly makes his wife cry. Oneshot. Written for the House Competition, Round 5 Standard.


**Author's Note: ** See Mom? I _can _write happy things about Remus and Tonks. Sometimes. Thank you to the betas who took time out of their lives for this!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **Pregnancy

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**House:** Hufflepuff

**Role:** Head Girl

**Category:** Round 5, Standard

**Prompt:** [Object] Baby toy

**Word Count:** 1136

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**Stacked with: **Hogwarts House Cup; MC4; Spring Bingo; Ship Wars; Snicket Fence

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Seeds; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow

Ribbon Redux; In a Flash

**Representation: **Incoming parenthood, Tonks being Tonks

**Bonus challenge(s): **Second Verse (Odd Feathers)

**Tertiary bonus challenge(s): **Chorus (Not a Lamp; Persistence Still)

_**Shipping War**_

**Ship (Team):** Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks (Technicolour Moon)

**List (Prompt):** Big List (hugging)

_**Spring Bingo entry information:**_

**Space Address : **2E

**Prompt: **Yellow

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All the Colours

Apparently the new regime had one advantage: with Fenrir Greyback so openly and freely endorsed by the authorities, the general public was biting back whatever they had to say about werewolves—pun unintended.

Remus himself had nothing to do with Greyback's pack, but the average witch or wizard had little to no clue about the inner workings of lycanthrope politics, after all. He couldn't help but feel guilty for profiting from the current climate, but the ease with which he found work in the midst of this pureblood elitism was surprising. He didn't want to call it a "pleasant" surprise but it was definitely a useful surprise, what with the baby coming, the Auror Department being predictably terrible to Dora, Andromeda suspended from her work at St. Mungo's, and Ted's pension cut off given his supposed "theft" of magic… really, their list of problems grew every day.

He'd had the same job shelving books in the back of Flourish and Blotts for two months now, which felt like some sort of a record. It was his first day back after the Full Moon, and predictably nobody at work had made eye contact or conversation with him all day. He was quite relieved to leave Diagon Alley at the end of his shift and walked down the streets of Muggle London before Apparating home. He knew that the chances that someone trailing him wouldn't be able to find out where he and Dora lived through the ministry were slim, but it still would have felt wrong not to take precautions.

Today he took a left instead of a right in his wanderings, making his way past a new series of shops and restaurants. He was somewhat interested by the different graffiti, until a particularly colourful sign caught his eye. It was a toy store, whose display window was full of tiny, tiny clothes and stuffed toys lined up like soldiers in the world's most ineffective and unthreatening army. A train was running along electrified tracks in a figure-eight, humming quietly.

He was investigating a particular xylophone he could have sworn he and Sirius had bought for Harry about a million years ago to annoy James when the stuffed caterpillar caught his eye. It was tiny and hidden away—it might have been in the window by accident. He wouldn't have spotted it if it weren't for its rainbow stripes. It had two big eyes, and two little antennas that curled sweetly. Remus smiled when he saw it; one of its stripes was Dora's favourite bubblegum pink. Another was the bright, leafy green she'd been tweaking her eyes to—and that purple was very much like her wedding day hair…

Before he knew it, Remus was in the store and asking a salesperson if he could take things off of the display. He had never been much of an impulse buyer on the grounds that that usually required money, but this all happened very quickly.

"That's alright; you don't need to wrap it," Remus told the saleswoman as she gave him his change.

She was a cheerful and pleasant older woman with square glasses and obviously dyed hair, who smiled at him even wider.

"It'll be used right away, will it?"

"Ah—not quite," Remus said. "I don't need the receipt, thank you."

He held the little caterpillar in his hands as he walked out of the store, but he could only manage another block before he Apparated back home in excitement.

When he opened the door, he was hit by the smell of chicken noodle soup. He didn't even bother taking off his shoes before turning the corner to head into the kitchen.

"Hi, love," Dora said, turning to look over her shoulder. All week, her hair had fallen in long princess curls, dark blue like a night sky, framing a freckled face. He wasn't sure how long it would be before she reverted back to pink or moved on, but one thing that was fixed in place was the baby bump. It had suddenly become much more visible about a week ago. He swore, one morning they'd woken up, and there it was. Currently, it was stretching out her worn Weird Sisters t-shirt.

He thrust the caterpillar towards her.

"I found this," he said.

"You… okay," Dora said, taking it in her hands. She turned it around and smiled. "A caterpillar?"

"I know it may be a strange animal choice, but it has all the colours of the rainbow on it and it reminded me of you," Remus said. "We should get the baby colourful things. Maybe if it's a metamorphmagus like you, being surrounded by colours will help it learn…"

He was suddenly conscious of her eyes on him.

"Maybe not," Remus took back quickly. "I… I don't know a lot about these things, I just thought—I should have asked you; you'd know…"

"No, no," Dora said. "It's not that at all, it's just… this is the first thing you bought for the baby."

"Oh," Remus said. "Is it?"

Dora nodded, and smiled. Her thumbs ran circles over the little caterpillar.

"I mean, we haven't done much yet because of everything going on, but are you… are you okay then?" Dora asked.

"Okay?"

"With this," she said, gesturing vaguely at her middle. "With the baby. And not just for my sake, but for real."

Remus didn't answer. He just looked at the little caterpillar and pondered this.

"I've made mistakes," he said.

"It's not about that. I'm not trying to bring this up…" Dora said quickly.

"But you could, and you should, and you'd have a right to," Remus interjected. "I've made mistakes, big ones. But sometimes, when I'm not worrying about whether or not the baby might be like me, I think about all the ways it could be like you. And that's not scary; that's just beautiful. That's exciting."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, the caterpillar squashed between them. His arms found their way around her waist. Never would he ever get over how wonderful the familiarity of this embrace was.

"Now you know how I've felt this entire time," she said quietly. "From the moment I knew."

Remus couldn't quite believe it, but he believed her. He believed in her.

"When I say you make me happier than I ever thought I could be, I mean it," he said. "That shouldn't be your problem, and it's not a reflexion of how much I love you. I'm… I'm trying. Sometimes I… I feel like I need time to adjust because it's so much more than I ever expect."

"Well, now you can expect all the colours of the rainbow," Dora said, kissing him. And as if to prove her point, her hair took on a bright yellow colour stuck somewhere between mustard and marigold yellow—a bright, happy colour that was also on the caterpillar.

"I look forwards to them all," he said.


End file.
